The mission would be the latest for FEDOR, created for rescue work — and more recently given the ability to shoot guns.

The International Space Station should prepare for the arrival of its first android crew members, Russian state media says. The Roskosmos space agency has approved a preliminary plan to send a pair of humanoid robots called FEDOR into space in August 2019, according to “a source in the space and rocket industry” quoted by the RIA Novosti website.

But while previous robots were shot into space as cargo, Russia’s pair of FEDORs — the acronym stands for Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research — will “fly for the first time to the ISS as crew members, and not as cargo in the transport compartment,” RIA Novosti wrote, adding that the robots will fly in an otherwise unmanned Soyuz rocket. State media called this a “good PR move.”

“This was initially designed as a proof of concept — and the space role for this robot was implied from the beginning. It does make for a very effective military ‘android’ in official videos where its shooting guns, but ultimately it’s a dual-use work frame for hard-to-do projects like working in space or in other hazardous environments,” noted Sam Bendett, an associate research analyst at CNA and a fellow in Russia studies at the American Foreign Policy Council.

Might there be another reason, beyond PR, to put the robots in the main cabin instead of the trunk? Since the shuttering of the Space Shuttle program, American astronauts’ only ride to orbit has been aboard Russia’s Soyuz rockets. An effort to put new American-made crew compartments into service by fall 2019 appears to be delayed. Will FEDOR bump U.S. astronauts from their flights?

Patrick Tucker contributed reporting to this story.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the journal V. Kris Verdeyen wrote for. The journal is Science Robotics. The article has been updated.

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